VPerry  cMason  Company, 
YPublishers, 

YBoston,  ^Massachusetts. 


By  Pres.  Andrew  S.  Proper 

Of  the  University  of  Illinois. 


0 w ' 

Ideal  Public  Schools. 

[Reprinted  from  The  Youth's  Companion,  Feb . 14,  igo/.] 


"DOYS  and  girls  hardly  understand  the  pur- 

* poses  of  the  public  schools.  They  think 
very  little  about  the  principles  upon  which  our 
great  school  system,  in  which  there  are  half  a 
million  of  teachers  and  fifteen  millions  of  pupils, 
and  which  costs  two  hundred  million  dollars  each 
year,  is  maintained.  They  do  not  trouble  them- 
selves over  the  ways  by  which  the  system  is  to 
accomplish  its  purposes  and  justify  all  it  costs. 
Too  many  parents  give  little  thought  to  the 
matter. 

The  impression  of  the  people  who  do  not  think 
very  hard  about  it  is  that  the  schools  are  to  teach 
pupils  to  read  and  write,  and  use  numbers,  and 
know  something  about  birds  and  flowers,  and 
countries  and  peoples,  and  the  like.  The  schools 
are  to  do  this ; but  they  are  weak  indeed  and  they 
are  not  worth  what  they  cost  unless  they  do  a 
great  deal  more. 

All  of  our  states  make  laws  requiring  the 
people  to  maintain  schools  for  all  the  children. 
Nearly  all  the  people  would  do  this  without  any 
law.  The  people  of  each  state  make  the  laws  in 
order  that  if  there  are  any  who  do  not  want  to 
support  schools,  they  will  be  compelled  to  do  so. 
In  this  way,  throughout  the  country,  a school 


is  sure  to  be  within  reach  of  every  home. 
Nearly  all  of  the  cities  and  towns  have  * 
established  high  schools,  and  many  of 
the  states  have  set  up  great  state  universi- 
ties. All  this  is  to  build  up  self-respecting 
character  and  develop  sound  views  of  life, 
to  train  up  good  citizens  and  make  the 
states  and  the  republic  safe ; it  is  not  only 
to  give  every  child  an  equal  chance  with 
every  other,  but  to  impel  every  one  to  make 
the  most  of  his  chance. 

That  is  the  ideal  purpose  of  the  schools. 

To  come  near  attaining  it,  the  school  must 
come  near  being  ideal.  We  are  very  likely 
to  judge  of  a school  by  the  looks  of  the 
schoolhouse.  We  may  make  a mistake, 
but  we  are  very  likely  to  be  right. 

If  we  see  a building  that  is  attractive, 
with  trees  about  it,  and  with  some  green 
| sod  and  flower-beds  in  the  summer-time, 
and  with  a whole  and  bright  American  flag 
floating  over  it,  we  shall  be  likely  to  find 
that  things  are  about  as  they  should  be  inside. 

If  the  building  looks  ugly  and  the  grounds  are 
unkempt  and  the  flag  ragged,  we  shall  be  likely 
to  find  that  the  schoolhouse  is  dirty  and  unhealth- 
ful. We  shall  also  be  likely  to  find  that  the 
teacher  is  lazy  and  the  pupils  listless,  and  the 
work  of  little  account. 

Importance  of  “Good  Looks.” 

THERE  may  be  cases  in  which  this  is  not  so. 

Clothes  do  not  make  the  man,  it  is  true,  but 
in  normal  business  conditions  clothes  indicate  the 
qualities  of  the  man.  A business  man  who  is 
cleanly  and  neatly  dressed  is  probably  a much 
better  and  stronger  man  than  one  who  looks 
shabby,  because  the  better  man  will  usually  look 
well.  So  a rickety  and  particularly  a dirty 
schoolhouse  is  almost  as  certain  proof  of  a weak 
school,  as  a four-days’-old  beard,  a dirty  shirt 
and  baggy  trousers  are  commonly  indicative  of  a 
cheap  kind  of  business  man.  People  who  know 
the  value  of  a good  school  will  provide  a good 
home  for  it,  and  in  turn  the  good  home  will  help 
the  school  to  grow  better. 

A true  teacher,  well  sustained,  will  make  an 


IDEAL  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


ideal  school;  but  true  teachers  are  few,  or,  at 
least,  they  seem  few  because  so  many  people 
who  are  really  unable  to  teach  well  want  to 
work  at  it  for  the  pay,  and  are  allowed  to' do  so. 
Here  is  the  greatest  trouble  in  building  up  ideal 
schools. 

The  Ideal  Teacher. 

A N ideal  teacher  must  first  of  all  be  an  ideal 
man  or  woman.  It  is  not  enough  that  a 
teacher  does  not  lie  or  swear  or  cheat.  There  are 
plenty  of  people  trying  to  teach  school  who  do 
not  do  any  of  those  things,  and  yet  they  do  very 
little  teaching.  No  one  teaches  well  unless  he 
has  the  respect  of  pupils,  and  he  cannot  have  that 
unless  he  is  a self-respecting  character.  If  he 
is  this,  he  will  be  neat  in  person,  regular  in  his 
mtxle  of  life,  honorable  in  his  treatment  of  others, 
and  sincere  in  his  purpose  to  make  the  most 
of  himself  and  do  the  most  he  can  for  others. 

An  efficient  teacher  will  be  well-informed, 
lie  will  know  what  has  occurred  in  the  world, 
and  what  is  happening  every  day.  If  he  knows 
only  a little  about  numbers  and  geography  and 
the  like,  and  does  little  but  go  over  the  routine  of 
these  things  year  after  year,  he  will  shrivel  up 
and  ought  to  blow  away.  He  must  read  the 
newspapers  and  magazines  and  the  best  books, 
and  he  must  travel  and  see  tilings  if  he  would 
be  of  use  to  a school. 

A teacher  must  not  only  know  all  about  what 
he  tries  to  teach,  but  he  must  know  how  to  teach. 
He  must  have  studied  the  minds  of  children,  and 
the  best  ways  of  gaming  their  interest  and  of 
leading  them  to  act  for  themselves.  A true 
teacher  will  like  children,  not  only  the  inordi- 
nately good  ones,  who  too  often  die  young,  but 
the  other  and  more  common  kind,  who  are  wilful 
and  perhaps  ugly  and  shirk  work  if  they  can, 
but  who  generally  grow  up  and  become  very 
decent  men  and  women,  after  all. 

Sympathy  with  Play. 

A TEACHER  must  enter  into  the  life  of 
pupils,  their  work  and  their  sports.  One 
who  only  tolerates  play  because  he  cannot  help 
it  ought  to  be  relegated  to  the  retired  list  of  the 
“Army  of  Martyrs,”  as  teachers  are  sometimes 
called.  He  would  have  no  claim,  however,  to 
a pension,  for  he  has  never  been  a good  soldier  in 
that  army. 

A true  teacher  will  be  master  of  the  school, 


and  so  undisputed  a master  that  he  will  not  be 
afraid  to  let  pupils  have  all  the  freedom  they  like 
so  long  as  it  does  not  interfere  with  the  work  of 
the  school.  Children  are  not  simpletons.  They 
dislike  rules  and  hate  watchers  and  keepers,  but 
they  laugh  at  teachers  who  are  “easy”  or  “soft.” 
They  respect  and  love  manly  men  and  womanly 
women. 

The  true  test  of  a school  is  the  extent  to  which 
the  pupils  do  things  for  themselves  because  they 
like  to  do  them.  The  amount  of  work  each  child 
does,  the  length  of  the  course  or  the  number  of 
studies  he  takes,  is  not  of  so  much  matter  as 
that  he  shall  get  interested  in  some  things  and  do 
them  for  himself. 

The  greater  number  of  children  never  become 
enthusiastic  over  anything.  They  lead  only 
ordinary  lives.  Nothing  quickens  their  souls  or 
stirs  them  to  real,  high-minded  effort.  A teacher 
who  can  wake  a child  up  and  get  him  to  working 
for  something  is  a real  teacher.  Such  a teacher 
will  have  learned  that  this  cannot  be  accomplished 
by  terrorizing  the  child,  or  by  trying  to  shape  the 
life  of  the  child  just  like  his  own  life.  The  work 
of  the  school  must  be  of  a kind  which  the  child 
can  like  to  do.  If  the  child  enjoys  one  kind  of 
work  better  than  another,  he  should  be  encouraged 
most  in  the  kind  he  likes  best.  Let  him  leam  to 
like  something;  let  him  accomplish  something, 
and  in  a little  time  he  will  like  other  and  greater 
things. 

Problems  of  Graded  Schools. 

'TfHE  necessity  of  the  close  grading  and  the 
separation  of  pupils  into  different  rooms 
in  the  large  schools  has  certain  disadvantages. 
When  the  younger  pupils  mingled  with  the  older 
ones  and  heard  them  recite,  they  derived  an 
advantage  from  it.  They  saw  what  was  ahead 
of  them,  and  often  they  were  roused  by  it. 

The  fact  that  in  the  graded  schools  the  grade 
above  is  the  main  judge  of  the  work  in  the  grade 
below,  and  that  the  greatest  desire  of  the  pupil  is 
to  pass  into  the  next  grade,  has  disadvantages  as 
well  as  advantages.  An  ideal  teacher  will  know 
what  the  disadvantages  are  and  make  them  as 
small  as  possible.  He  will  do  genuine  and  honest 
work  without  too  much  reference  to  the  teacher 
in  the  next  room.  Thoughtful  people  who  build 
schoolhouses  will  put  an  assembly-room  into  every 
house,  where  all  may  come  together  and  get  the 
good  which  comes  from  the  general  meeting.  It 
seems  practically  impossible  to  do  for  the  child 


IDEAL 


PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 


what  the  schools  are  set  to  do,  unless  the  pupils 
of  different  ages  intermingle. 

Probably  the  greatest  danger  to  the  public 
school  system  is  that  people  who  are  able  to 
send  their  children  to  private  schools  will  become 
dissatisfied  with  the  public  schools,  and  withdraw 
their  children  and  their  support  from  them. 
They  find,  in  some  cases,  that  the  public  school- 
houses  are  untidy  or  unhealthful,  or  that  the 
public  school  teachers  are  too  uncultivated  for 
association  with  their  children,  or  are  unable  to 
interest  and  instruct  them.  If  this  should  become 
true  to  any  great  extent,  it  would  be  a very  serious 
hurt  to  the  public  schools,  because  the  strongest 
point  about  them  is  that  they  are  common  to  all, 
to  the  well-to-do  and  the  rich  as  well  as  to  the 
poor.  American  people  in  comfortable  circum- 
stances will  not  pay  twice  for  the  education  of 
their  children  without  feeling  much  annoyed  at 
the  necessity,  and  they  show  less  courage  than 
they  ought  to  show  if  they  do  not  make  a very 
vehement  and  effectual  protest. 

This  trouble  is  to  be  rigidly  guarded  against. 
A schoolhouse  which  is  not  neat  enough  and 
healthful  enough  for  a rich  man’s  child  is  not 
fit  for  a poor  man’s  child.  A teacher  whose  per- 
sonal appearance  or  whose  ways  are  unpleasant 
or  hurtful  to  a child  from  the  home  of  cultivated 
people  is  unfit  to  have  charge  of  a child  from 
any  home.  A teacher  who  cannot  teach  well-bred 
children  is  an  offense  to  all  children.  The  public 
schools  are  bound  to  be  the  best  and  most  effi- 
cient there  are,  well  worthy  of  all  the  homes  they 
assume  to  serve. 

Schools  Steadily  Improving. 

TT  must  not  be  assumed  from  what  has  been 
■■■  said  that  the  writer  thinks  that  the  Ameri- 
can public  schools  are  poor,  or  that  the  teachers 
cannot  teach.  The  public  schools  are,  in  general, 
better  than  they  ever  were  before.  The  people 
are  more  intelligent ; the  standards  are  steadily 
advancing;  the  schools  must  steadily  improve. 
The  teaching  force  in  our  school  system  is  far 
from  ideal,  but  it  is  generally  conscientious. 
The  teachers  advance  wherever  the  conditions 
encourage  them  to  do  so.  Where  the  people 


manage  the  schools  upon  principles  whi 
approach  the  ideal,  the  teachers  improve  in  spir 
and  accumulate  teaching  power  with  gr~ 
rapidity. 

Ideal  schools  will  result  from  the  intelligen 
and  the  spirit  of  the  people.  People  are  n 
lfkely  to  have  good  schools  unless  they  know  t' 
difference  between  good  schools  and  poor  on' 
Even  then  they  are  not  likely  to  have  g' 
schools  unless  they  are  very  earnest  about 
Wherever  the  people  allow  mere  self-seekers 
become  members  of  school  boards,  and  let  tlr 
appoint  and  promote  teachers  through  favoritis 
and  in  defiance  of  the  advice  of  experien' 
professional  superintendents,  the  schools  will 
weak. 


The  Responsibility  of  Parents. 

TF  the  people  will  generate  enough  civic  ener 
* to  secure’  laws  which  will  enable  them 
protect  their  children  against  incompetents,  ar 
true  teachers  against  association  and  competiti 
with  the  unworthy ; if  they  will  remember  t' 
laws  do  not  execute  themselves,  but  requi 
executors  who  are  truly  ambitious  for  the  b 
that  can  be  obtained;  then  the  schools  will 
likely  to  approach  the  ideal. 

Wherever  a teacher’s  tenure  of  position  d 
not  depend  upon  a true  spirit  and  upon  increas' 
expertness  in  teaching,  there  are  likely  to 
poor  schools.  In  such  cases  there  will  be 
standards,  and  the  teaching  will  be  reckless  a 
unscientific.  Jealousies  will  prevail  among  t 
teachers.  It  will  be  necessary  to  make 
covering  almost  every  act  to  prevent  the  so-call 
teachers  from  doing  harm.  These  rules  will  k 
those  who  might  be  true  teachers  from  doi 
good. 

Wherever  school  boards  will  secure  a capar 
and  just  superintendent,  and  cooperate  with  h 
in  a policy  which  will  give  every  teacher 
right  to  know  that  a higher  position  and  be 
pay  in  the  schools  will  surely  reward  a gen 
and  steady  spirit,  and  that  increasing  resp 
in  society  will  as  surely  follow  patience 
thoroughness  in  work,  the  schools  will  certa' 
advance  toward  the  best  ideals. 


